Cryogenics 35 (1995) 515-523

0 1995 Elsevier Science Limited

Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved
001 l-2275/95/$10.00

Effects of cryogenic cooling by liquid

nitrogen jet on forces, temperature and
surface residual stresses in grinding steels
S. Paul* and A.B. Chattopadhyay
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
West Bengal 721 302, India
Received 20 January

1995; revised

Indian Institute

14 February

of Technology

Kharagpur,

1995

Grinding is a widely employed finishing process for different materials such as metals,
ceramics, glass, carbides, rocks, etc. to achieve good geometrical (form) and dimensional accuracy with acceptable surface finish and surface integrity. However, it is
inherently characterized by high specific energy requirements,
unlike other conventional machining processes such as turning, milling, etc., which lead to a high grinding
zone temperature and poor surface integrity. Many methods have been investigated
to control this high grinding zone temperature, but all have their shortfalls, both technological and environmental,
in exchange for controlling the grinding zone temperature. This paper briefly discusses the results obtained with regard to grinding forces,
specific energy, grinding zone temperature
and surface residual stress when using
cryogenic cooling and compares them to the results from dry grinding and grinding
with soluble oil. Cryogenic cooling seems to have the edge over other coolants in
terms of controlling the temperature,
residual stresses and grinding forces, and it is
also environment friendly.
Keywords: cryogenic
residual stresses

grinding;

grinding

Grinding
is a widely used machining
process mainly
applied to finish surfaces, both internal and external, in a
wide variety of materials, such as metals, ceramics, carbides, stones, etc. Grinding is employed to achieve good
dimensional and form accuracy of the product with acceptable surface integrity.
However, grinding is inherently associated with high
specific energy requirements which result in a very high
grinding zone temperature. Such high grinding zone temperatures, if not well controlled, would lead to thermal
damage to the ground surface in the form of plastic deformations, the formation of micro- and macro-cracks (which
could be both surface and subsurface cracks), redeposition,
induction of tensile residual stresses, etc. In other words,
it would impair the surface integrity of the ground surface
significantly. Marshall and Shawl, Backer et al.* and Outwater and Shaw3 were among the first scientists to study
grinding processes and to identify high grinding zone temperature as one of the main causes of high tensile residual

*Currently Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Laboratory for

Flexible Production Automation,
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Marine Technology, TU Delft, Landbergstraat 3,2628
CE Delft, The Netherlands

forces;

grinding

temperature;

surface

stress on the ground surface. Other problems such as wheel

loading, wheel wear and surface damage are also substantially influenced by the high grinding zone temperature.
Many methods have been investigated
to control the
grinding zone temperature. Some workers have advocated
the use of neat oils instead of cutting compounds to control
temperature 4- 6. Nee7 studied the applicability of additives
and solid lubricants in grinding. But it was realized that the
effectiveness of grinding fluids is restricted by the fact that
they lose their cooling properties upon film boiling and that
the film boiling temperatures of conventional fluids are low
(maximum =350C)6.8. Another problem associated with
control of temperature in grinding fluid applications is that
the fluid fails to reach the grinding zone due to the formation of a stiff boundary layer around the rotating grinding
wheel. To counteract this problem, several methods have
been investigated:
1
2
3
4
5

painting of the faces and cardboard scrapper technique,O;

grooves on the periphery of the whee15,1,12;
curved grooves on the face of the wheel;
randomly distributed holes parallel to the wheel axis in
the case of face grinding12;
on-line ultrasonic cleaning of the wheel surfacelo;

Cryogenics

1995 Volume

35, Number

515

Effects
6
7

of cryogenic

cooling

in grinding

steels: S. Paul and A.B. Chattopadhyay

Table 2

hybrid wheels;
ZZ method
(i.e.
through-wheel
coolant
supply
method) 3;
jet infusion technique14; and
cubic boron nitride (CBN) wheels15 and monolayer
CBN wheels16,.

8
9

Machine

Jung horizontal surface grinder,

2.2 kW
A60K5V
(150mmx13mmx31.75mm)
3000 rev min-
23.5 m s
8 m min
10 to 40 pm in steps of 10 pm
Dn/
Flood cooling with soluble oil
(1:20)
Liquid nitrogen jet
1 carat single point diamond
dresser
10 pm, single pass
160 pm
3000 rev mini
Dry

Dresser
Dressing depth
Dressing lead
Spindle speed
Environment
(dressing)

Table 3

Dressing conditions for force experiments

Type of
dressing
Coarse
Fine

u=-

Depth
Lead
Depth
Lead

10
160
5
80

FtVc

where: F, = tangential

force; V, = peripheral speed of grind-

of materials

Designation

c (%)

Ni 1%)

Mild steel
High carbon steel
Cold die steel
Hot die steel
High speed steel

MS/AISI lOZO/Rc 14
HCS/AISI 1080/Rc 32
CDS/D2/Rc 43
HDS/H 1 l/Rc 53
HSSlM2lRc 64

0.15
0.80
2.00
0.40
0.80

=
a
0.10
0.10

Traces of P, S and Mn present

Cryogenics

Size (pm)

aV,b

Material

516

Parameter

any coolant. In wet grinding, soluble oil ( 1:20) was applied

at the grinding zone using the flood cooling application
method available with the machine. For cryogenic cooling
of the grinding zone, a jet of liquid nitrogen was made to
impinge at the grinding zone from a suitable distance
(40 mm) and angle (20). The liquid nitrogen jet was produced by pressuring the Dewar to 0.35 MPa (3.5 bar) using
dried air and fitting a suitably designed nozzle in the delivery line. The liquid nitrogen delivery set-up has been shown
schematically in a previous paperz3.
To study the effects of cryogenic cooling on the grinding
forces and specific energy, as compared to dry and wet
grinding, the grinding forces in the normal and tangential
directions were measured by a three component Kistler piezoelectric dynamometer
and were recorded on a thermal
pen type recorder, under different environments,
infeeds
and dressing conditions. The specific energy U is obtained
by the following formula

conditions

Chemical composition

Description

Spindle speed
Wheel speed
Table speed
lnfeed
Environment

For the present study five steels commonly used in industry

have been chosen; their chemical composition
and bulk
hardness are given in Table 1. The experimental conditions
are given in Table 2. For grinding force measurements, the
dressing conditions have been changed and are listed in
Table 3.
The grinding forces, specific energies, temperatures and
residual stresses reported are those when the process has
stabilized; this point was decided to be when there was
almost no fluctuation in the mean values of the grinding
forces in the normal and tangential directions over a number of passes.
The dry grinding was carried out without application of
Table 1

conditions

Item

Wheel

Most of the above methods use grinding fluids with or without additives which need to be specially treated to make
them biologically harmless during storage and use. But during application they do pollute the air in the machine shop.
Hence future trends could also include the replacement of
such grinding fluids with non-polluting coolants, like some
liquefied gases, e.g. liquid nitrogen.
Research in the field of grinding with a cryogenic coolant, to the best of our knowledge, was initiated by Chattopadhyay et al. I9 In a preliminary
investigation
they
observed some benefits of cryogenic cooling with liquid
nitrogen with respect to the grinding forces and surface
quality. Recent publications20~2 also indicate successful
application of cryogenic cooling in other machining operations. Paul et al. have recently studied the effects of
cryogenic cooling by liquid nitrogen in grinding steels,
mainly on the chip formation mechanism, grinding forces
and surface quality. In another study, Paul et aLz3 computationally determined the grinding zone temperature and
residual stress field using the finite element method, which
indicated the effectiveness
of cryogenic cooling in controlling both the grinding zone temperature and residual
stress with respect to dry and wet grinding (i.e. with normal
soluble oil as a coolant).
In the present paper, the effects of cryogenic cooling by
liquid nitrogen jet have been reviewed with respect to dry
grinding and grinding with soluble oil as coolant. The
effects on grinding forces, grinding zone temperature and
residual stresses have been presented to obtain an overall
view of cryogenic cooling.

Experimental

Experimental

1995 Volume

35, Number

-1

Cr t%)

MO (%)

v (%)

w (%)

12.3
4.00
4.00

0.30
1.40
4.00

2.00

6.00

Effects of cryogenic

cooling in grinding

ing wheel; a = infeed; VW = speed of work piece; and

b = width of cut. Temperature measurements were also carried at the grinding zone for different infeeds and environments using the method cited by van Luttervelt and Zhou24.
The effect of cryogenic cooling on residual stress has
also been investigated by measuring the residual stress at
the ground surface in the direction of grinding by an X-ray
diffraction method. A two-tilt (or exposer) method25 has
been used for an iron (FeK,) target. Necessary corrections
were undertaken for the Lorenz polarization
factor and
absorptionZ5 and K, doublet splitting leading to partial or
complete blending of K, doublets26. Also, the measurements were repeated three times to minimize the levels of
error. For smoothing of the data, neighbourhood averaging
over three points has also been included*.

Results and discussion

Grinding forces consist of different elements which largely
depend on the wheel characteristics, the working material
characteristics, the process parameters, the chosen environment and the grinding zone temperature. In the main, there
are two groups of elements which add to the total grinding
force; one of them is productive and more or less proportional to the infeed, and the other is mainly non-productive or frictional, and may not depend on the infeed.
Figures 1-5 show the variation of grinding forces in the

steels: S. Paul and A. B. Chattopadh yay

normal and tangential direction and the specific energy with

the infeed for different environments under coarse and fine
dressing conditions for all the different materials used for
the current study.
Irrespective of the working materials, environment and
infeed, the normal forces were found to be around twice
the tangential forces, unlike in other machining processes
like turning and milling. This can only be attributed to the
very large negative rake of the grits, the excessive rubbing
action and adverse chip accommodation
space, often leading to wheel loading and smaller uncut chip thickness. It
can also be noted that the normal and tangential forces
increase gradually with increase in infeed, as expected. But
the specific energy is observed to decrease gradually with
increase in infeed, irrespective of the working material and
environment. This may be attributed to the interplay of two
groups of forces, i.e. the productive and non-productive
(frictional)
ones. At low infeed the percentage contributions of the friction between the grit tips and working
material, rubbing, primary and secondary ploughing, and
friction between loaded chip particles and the working surface are more predominant; the percentage contribution of
the same group of factors at higher infeed levels is reduced
because most of them are more or less independent
of
infeed; in contrast, the productive parts, i.e. the forces due
to shearing and micro-fracturing,
are almost proportional to
the infeed level. Hence the specific energy decreases with
increase in infeed.

wdt

-q-2

10
ink3

40

50

20

10

(rni%n)

infeed

30

q QQoa

dry

4Au.b

wet
Iq. N2

CL!
0

10

40

infee2da (mi%n)
Figure 1

Variation

50

D!
0

sb

(micron)

10
infee2d (rniZ0n)

4.0

in grinding forces and specific energy with infeed for mild steel under different environments

Cryogenics

1995 Volume

35, Number

517

Effects

of cryogenic

cooling

in grinding

steels: S. Paul and A.B. Chattopadhyay

QQQ-W dry
finnnh wet
Qou!o

0,

0
infeed

(micron)

10

4Q

0-0

10

40

infeZ?
Figure2

Variation

30

{rni2on)

&bbU

dry
wet

QAQM

Iq. N2

Cryogenics

-,J_
0

10

40

infee2d0 (rn&l)

in grinding forces and specific energy with infeed for high carbon steel under different environments

A very interesting point to note is that both the normal

and tangential forces and hence the specific energy have
been found to be less under cryogenic cooling, throughout
the infeed range for all the materials undertaken and under
both dressing conditions, as compared to dry and wet grinding. This again may be attributed to smaller chip size22,23,
a predominantly
fractured mode of material remova12*~*,
reduction in wheel loading26, retention of grit sharpness due
to an inert atmosphere26 and a much lower grinding zone
temperature23.
Another very interesting point that has been observed,
is that as the work piece hardness increases the benefit of
cryogenic cooling decreases. At higher work piece hardness
and for materials which retain their hardness at higher temperatures (e.g. high speed steel), even under dry and wet
grinding, fractured chips are found.
Dressing parameters should have an influence on the
grinding forces and specific energy, as they control the distribution of grits, their initial sharpness or bluntness, the
number of active cutting edges and the chip accommodation spaces. As expected, coarse dressing produced lower
forces for almost all the materials and environments.
It
should also be noted that the effectiveness of cryogenic
cooling increased with coarse dressing, especially
for
harder materials like cold die steel, hot die steel and high
speed steel.
The effect of cryogenic cooling on the grinding zone

518

infee2d0 (rni,yon)

0~

Lq.Nz

1995 Volume

35, Number

temperature can be seen in Figure 6 for all the materials

investigated. The results shown are experimental in nature
and are the average of a few passes after the process has
stabilized.
Figure
6 shows that there has been a substantial
reduction in the grinding zone temperature on application
of the liquid nitrogen jet for all the materials tested and
throughout the infeed range. But it seems that the effectiveness of cryogenic cooling increases at higher infeeds. It is
also important to note that the application of soluble oil
fails to control the temperature to the desired level and its
effectiveness
decreases at higher infeed. Soluble oils
remove heat from the grinding zone by flood cooling. If
the temperature exceeds the film boiling temperature of the
grinding fluid then it loses its cooling abilities because of
the formation of a film which hampers the local heat transfer situation.
The liquid nitrogen jet seems to be rnore effective in the
case of ductile materials (e.g. mild steel) in controlling the
temperature. This is because of its better effectiveness in
controlling the grinding forces and specific energy for mild
steel. Such control of grinding zone temperature led to
better surface characteristics
of the ground surfaces, as
electron
microscope
observed
under
the
scanning
( SEM)22,23, and less wheel loading and wheel wear26.
The variation of surface residual stress in the grinding
direction with infeed under different environments,
as

Effects of cryogenic

0-l

10

infeZ:

t!
0

Figure 3

Variation

40

cooling in grinding

steels: S. Paul and A.B. Chattopadhyay

50

10

10 infeezda (rni%n)

40

CH!

50

infez

(rni~~0n)

10 infeZ?

(rni~~on)

(rni%)

40

40

in grinding forces and specific energy with infeed for cold die steel under different environments

determined by X-ray diffraction, can be seen in Figure 7.

For almost all the materials, the surface residual stress is
found to be tensile in nature irrespective of the environment
and infeed. The tensile residual stress is induced in grinding
for three reasons, thermal, metallurgical and mechanica15~28-30.
At a high grinding zone temperature, the upper hot layer of
the working material is plastically deformed by the cooler
sublayers, leading to tensile residual stress on cooling.
Residual stress is also generated because of austeniticmartensitic transformation
due to the high grinding zone
temperature and its gradient. Mechanical hot working by
local normal Hertizian pressure also introduces residual
stress. But previous investigators have pointed out that the
thermal source is the main one in the development of tensile
residual stress.,5,28,30 As the temperature increases at higher
infeeds, for all the materials and environments,
the tensile
residual stresses have also increased with increase in infeed.
It is also noteworthy that application of soluble oil could
not control the tensile residual stress to the desired level,
as can be seen in Figure 7. This can only be attributed to
its failure to control the grinding zone temperature (Figure
6) and forces (Figures 1-5).
Application
of liquid nitrogen has, as expected, controlled the tensile residual stress and can substantially
reduce it though this depends on the material characteristics. These effects could be attributed not only to effective

temperature control but also to a desirable reduction in

grinding forces. And it should be stressed that the control
of tensile residual stress has not followed the same trend
as the control of temperature. This is because of different
material characteristics, especially at higher temperatures,
of the working materials. Hence it appears that cryogenic
cooling has provided substantial benefits in the case of
those steels which are ductile and adhesive at high temperatures, such as mild steel, and those steels which are hot
hard and are to some extent brittle in nature, such as hot
die steel and high speed steel.

Conclusions
Based on the experimental results presented
the following conclusions can be drawn.
1

in this paper

While grinding the steel specimens under different conditions, cryogenic cooling provided significant improvements, as expected, though to varying degrees, with
respect to grinding forces, specific energy requirements
and surface residual stresses, mainly due to a substantial
reduction in grinding zone temperature.
Cryogenic cooling has substantially reduced the grinding zone temperature and kept the temperature well

Cryogenics

1995 Volume

35, Number

519

Effects of cryogenic

cooling
z:-

in grinding

steels: S. Paul and A.B. Chattopadhyay

In
QQD.RU dry
u
wet
U444
Lq.Nz

fine dressing
-----norm01

33
f

o-

10 infeZ

o-.
0

Variation

O!

520

Variation

(miJc%n) 40

50

(mi&on)

40

10

10

(mi%)

-so!

dressing

infet?

t.,
0

Cl

10

40

50

infee? (m&7)

ink62

10

4-b

40

ink2

10
infee2d0 (mi%n)

50

(nG!on)

in grinding forces and specific energy with infeed for high speed under different environments

below the critical temperature range for the steels. Such

benefits increased with the increase in ductility of the
working material, the fracture mode of chip formation
and infeed level.
Flood cooling by soluble oil could not control the grinding zone temperature appreciably and its effectiveness
decreased further with an increase in infeed.

Cryogenics

10 infe2

in grinding forces and specific energy with infeed for hot die steel under different environments

Figure 5

50

hot die steel

u& codrse

Figure 4

40

(mi%n)

0
Sk-&
al
::
0

1995 Volume

35, Number

Favourable chip formation and effective temperature

control enabled cryogenic grinding to reduce substantially the magnitudes of the grinding forces, both tangential and normal, and hence the specific energy
requirement. Such a reduction in the forces seems to be
more predominant when the steels are more ductile and
less heat resistive, when the wheel is coarse dressed and
when the infeed is sufficiently large.

Effects of cryogenic

cooling in grinding

mild

steel

0
0

10

steels: S. Paul and A.B. Chattopadhyay

20
inieed,

40

30
micron

-I

high
10

20
infeed,

hot
Oo

10

carbon

die
20

infeed,
Figure 6

steel
30
micron

steel
30

40

40

50I

Of
0

with infeed for different

Dry grinding yielded high tensile residual stress at the

ground surface of all the steels investigated and the
stress values increased with the increase in infeed. Wet
grinding failed to improve the situation appreciably,
mainly due to its failure in controlling
the grinding
zone temperature.
Cryogenic cooling reduced the magnitude of the tensile

die

20
infeed,

high
10

speed
20

infeed,

micron

Variation in grinding temperature

cold
IO

materials

steel
30
micron

steel
30

40

40

50
I

micron

under different environments

residual stress for all the materials, though to varying

degrees, under all the infeed levels, a change which can
only be attributed to its efficient cooling action, better
modes of chip formation, less specific energy and,
finally, lower grinding zone temperature.
The benefits of cryogenic cooling have been more substantial for those steels which are either quite soft, duc-

Cryogenics

1995 Volume

35, Number

521

Effects of cryogenic

cooling in grinding

steels: S. Paul and A.B. Chattopadhyay

uQRn!J

dry

QQ0.43

Iq.

&.%A

wet

nit

mild
E
IO

cut-bon

81 high

00
IO

!i!

Figure

Variation

10

40

50

40

50

10

infee2da (miZ*n)

die

steel
g

10

u-l
IO

in surface

residual

stress

of work

piece

for different

materials

2
3

1995 Volume

20
infeed (rni%n)

high

speed

40

4-o

steel

10

infee2d0 (rni~~on)

infee2d0 (miZx7)

Marshall, E.R. and Shaw, M.C. Forces

Trans ASME ( 1952) 74 5 1

Cryogenics

40

4:
u-l
IO

References

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20
30
infeed (micron)

tile and sticky or to some extent hot hard and relatively

brittle in nature.

steel
I

steel

10

hot

K
IO

in dry surface

35, Number

grinding

under

different

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Cryogenics

1995 Volume

35, Number

523